Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 belongs to Square.
Author's Note: Sorry this part took long!! I gave up catching my beta readers (actually, one's router wasn't working) so I decided to edit it myself. ;; So please excuse the wrong grammars...
Sweet Sacrifices - 5 By: Liv
A loud crash had broken the silence of the room. Cloud gasped and twisted left to the best that he could to look down from his window that was a yard away from him. The moonless night strained his eyes but he could see a black limousine with its bunker against the wall in front of the hospital--and not at all at a good condition. Ms. Aeris! His eyes grew. But before he could call for help, he thought something wasn't right. He looked at who was above the wall.
A man with a sniper rifle pointed at him. He had brown hair and something around his forehead.
"Shit!!" Cloud threw his covers off as he rolled away from the bed, pulling his casted leg off its hold. He saw the bullet shoot through his quilt while he fell heavily to the cold floor. He gave another curse word as he slammed his bad knee against the floor. Cold liquid tickled his skin while he felt his right arm being frozen. The blue liquid had dripped through a needle that he knew was supposed to be injected to his wrist.
But that was not his concern for the moment. Aeris was in trouble.
Ignoring his pain, his eyes searched for something that glew and found it, soaking in the blue liquid. He grabbed it with his left hand and laid on his back, throwing it simultaneously to the intercom over his pillow. The reciever had been dislodged from the device and now hung lifelessly as a monotonous sound was heard faintly. He racked his mind for a number to dial while at the same time, looking for something else to throw as the materia had sat stationarily on his bed.
Damn it!! Cloud thought frustratedly, surrendering on looking for a specific reciever. Heavily, he turned around and crawled towards his night desk. His right arm trembled as he put weight on it while his eyes stayed on the flower basket. Wait for help, Ms. Aeris...! Finally close to it, he supported his weight with his numb right arm while his left hand reached for something.
Got it!!
He positioned the alarm clock to a throw-ready one and let it fly towards the intercom. Let God decided which number it presses.
bbrrrriiiiingggg!
"Anything wrong, sir?"
"Ms. Aeris is in trouble!! Get her out of the car now!!!"
The repetitive 'now!' had compelled the red-haired turk to pull of his legs from the controls and slam his feet to the floor, standing. His similarly colored eyes searched the monitors in the security room for anything wrong but panic had proven him wrong.
No, there was a repeating still image...
"Shit, hacked!" He grabbed his weapon and stormed out of the room, leaving the door to swing lifelessly.
It didn't take him long to get close to the front door, he casted the rod he held at the lock. Electricity shot through one end of his weapon and struck through it. The metal had also blackened and smoked due to the heat. The turk had pushed the front door open and took no time to pause and look for Aeris. His eyes had immediately spotted the vehicle where the driver was found shot. The mirror was broken and his head was drooped, what looked like blood flowed through the wound.
Another sound of a sniper rifle's bullet came. The turk gave a short cry as he felt it sharply hit his left arm. He stepped back, dropping his shoulders and holding his wound with his rod-wielding hand. "Fcking bastard!" His bloody hand moved to take a grenade from inside his jacket pocket. After biting the pin off, he threw it over to the roof. He knew it wouldn't reach the sniper himself but it would at least distract him or damage him in another way with the explosion.
He didn't need to fight now.
While the grenade had taken effect, he sped towards the broken limousine--slowing down when he had reached the passenger's side. He pressed the front end of his night rod against the lock. Electricity shot and damaged the lock, allowing him to simply open the door. The smoke from the explosion scattered throughout the air, making things look foggy. The smell was intoxicating, as well. But he had a job to finish.
The Shinra daughter was found lying on the car mats, back facing the roof. She was still, but a closer observation could show that her shoulders moved according to her sobs.
She's not doing a good job playing dead! He groaned and bent half his body into the limousine, supporting his weight with his legs and his good arm. "Ms. Aeris, you all right?"
Aeris looked up with blurry eyes. A surge of relief came to her after she saw through her tears who her saviour was. "R, Reno!!"
"Let's get you out of here, Ma'am." Reno Gainsborough had assisted the woman up and out, then rushed her towards the hospital. He had not realized that there were no guards standing.
The clock read 10:45 pm. It ticked mockingly at Cloud who waited for news in his new room. His bad leg was put up once more, but in a different level. He was running a high fever after his supplement of liquified mako had been suddenly interrupted. His face was beaded with sweat, chest rising and falling, skin pale and eyes dry.
Even after things had calmed down, Cloud had not felt it. He had completely ignored the nurse who constantly recorded statistics onto her clipboard.
A soft knock came and the door creeked open, surprising the nurse of the visitor's rudeness. While she motioned to tell him off, she held her tongue and meekly returned to her work after she saw who it was.
Reno, with his arm bandaged at the upper part of it, stepped into the room with a carefree smirk. But when he saw Cloud, shock had replaced it. Had he been his friend, he would have cursed loudly. But he was able to maintain his poise. "Sir," He nodded.
"Ms. Aeris?" Cloud felt relief after asking the question. It was hard making sure it was audible and feeling it drum against his ears and chest. He had slightly lifted his nape to better see the turk.
"She's safe." Reno knew death awaited him if he insisted on humoring this man.
"Thank God...!" Cloud's head returned to the softness of his pillow. He felt his heart pounding against his chest, head throbbing and warmth returning to his body.
Reno smirked. "Seriously, though, if you hadn't called, she would have probably died." He was amused at Cloud's surprised stare, as if he had spoken something ominous. "Our security system was hacked and the soldiers were downed with tranquilizer darts."
Cloud nodded. "I see...where is she?" His voice was softer.
"On her way home with Boss."
Cloud knew it was Tseng whom this turk referred to. He could finally rest for the night, he thought. "You saved her?"
"No one else but me!" Reno opened his arms, displaying pride. The wound did not ache much after the potion he had taken. He saw the clock in front of Cloud and whistled. "Well, I'll be going back to work now." He waved with his good hand. "Rest easy, sir."
"Thank you for everything." Cloud watched the turk step off his room and close the door.
The nurse then proceeded to closing the blinds. "Have some sleep, sir."
Cloud nodded and closed his eyes, falling nocturnal swiftly.
Carefully, she opened her eyes into a squint. Aeris saw firstly the image of her father who wore a warm smile. "Daddy..." She gave the gesture back, only it was rather weak.
"Aeris, I'm so happy you're awake..." Alex reached to caress his daughter's cheek. "How do you feel?"
"I think I'm sick." Aeris admitted with a croaky voice. She cleared her throat. "I feel a slight headache, my body feels heavy, too..."
"You've come down to a fever." Alex brushed his daughter's hair off her face. "I'll tell everyone not to disturb you."
"Daddy, wait," Aeris hurriedly called as her father moved to turn. She swallowed hard before she spoke. "Reno...I want to speak to him."
The year-worn envelope of gil was tossed onto the care-forbidden desk that was held up with the help of random planks and rusting nails. The young man with a green bandana reached for it and opened it slightly. There were three bills with the face of a previous Shinra president.
"Good job." The dark-colored man returned to wiping the massive gun attached to his muscular arm with a white cloth. "'at should give'm a scare, The next mission'll be th'real thing, hear?"
The real assassination. He kept the envelope inside his vest and turned to leave. "We'll be hanging out somewhere, Boss." He waved and left the ran-down office after he was acknowledged.
Outside, he pulled the door close before approaching his two other comrades. "So, where to?"
"Amazing he didn't get mad." The red-haired woman hopped off a fairly small barrel and recieved a kiss from the man to whose shoulders she placed her arms on. "How'd it go, Biggs?"
"We got 3000G, Baby." Biggs kissed the girl once more, his hands holding her slender waist.
"Mmm, su-weet..." Jesse broke from his lips to smile. "So, where we eatin'?"
"To the usual place, I guess." Biggs shrugged and turned to the chubby man on the floor. "Unless Wedge found something new to try."
"I found one but they're still setting the place up." Wedge shrugged. "It looks like it's going to have good food, though."
Jesse laughed. "EVERYTHING is good food for ya!" She heard Biggs laughing along.
Wedge twitched his smile. "Well, you have to learn how to appreciate every kind of food, nowadays."
"Yeah, true. Times are tough." Biggs started walking to the entrance of their little HQ, arm on Jesse's shoulders. "Let's have some fun."
"This came from a woman named Tifa Lockhart."
Aeris watched the red-haired turk settle a small vase of flowers onto her night desk. Her calm smile returned to her face. Now that her saviour was with her, she felt safer. "Thank you, Reno."
"And...there's also this letter." Reno reached from his pocket and handed an envelope to Aeris.
Aeris nodded, keeping the letter away. That will be read later.
"If you don't mind me asking, how do you feel?" Reno stood with his shoulders back and arms in pockets.
"I'm doing better, thank you." Aeris indicated the chair beside her where her father once sat and was declined politely. She nodded, as if understanding. "Um, Reno, I wasn't able to thank you properly last night..."
"Oh! Well..." Reno shrugged, visibly flattered that this woman was thanking him. "Just part'a the job, Ma'am."
Aeris giggled. "I do want to know, though, how was no one able to save me but you?" Her eyebrows were arched in curiosity.
"We're supposing that it's a terrorist attack." Reno started. "While you were gone, a band of rebels have presented activities against Shinra. They call themselves 'Avalanche'."
"Really...?" Aeris felt her hands squeezing her quilt. "How worse has the situation gone?"
"In terms of public safety, everything's under control. But in terms of spotting them, no improvements." Reno shook his head with a negative face.
Aeris nodded. "This war has incapacitated us at many points. Let's hope our victory will be a good omen." She asked a follow-up question. "How was our security penetrated?"
"The cameras were hacked and the soldiers were downed with tranquilizer darts. Pretty good for a buncha rookies, I'd say." Reno admitted.
"The cameras were hacked?" Aeris repeated in confusion. "Then...how were you able to find me? W, were you, by any chance, taking a walk?"
"Someone called me while I was keeping an eye on the monitors." Reno tapped his foot and snapped his fingers. "Forgot his name, though. Damn..."
"His?" Aeris arched her eyebrows in suspicion.
"Yeah. Musta heard the car crash from his room. Funny you're both sick--ah!" Reno snapped his fingers and pointed at Aeris before setting it down. "The commander of the 4th division."
Aeris blinked, surprise visible on her face. She felt her heart beating faster. She didn't expect that it could be him! "cmdr. Cloud Strife...?" Speaking the name had made her stomach flip-flop.
"Spikey blond? Blue mako eyes? His division was the one attacked a few days ago, right?" Reno clarified. But he ended up blinking and bending with arched eyebrows as the woman looked at her quilt, giving a shy smile. "Ehh...Ms. Aeris? Ms. Aeris..."
None of his calls got through her. She was overwhelmed that this commander had saved her.
And she was pleased...
- End of Part 5 -
Author's Note: Sorry this part took long!! I gave up catching my beta readers (actually, one's router wasn't working) so I decided to edit it myself. ;; So please excuse the wrong grammars...
Sweet Sacrifices - 5 By: Liv
A loud crash had broken the silence of the room. Cloud gasped and twisted left to the best that he could to look down from his window that was a yard away from him. The moonless night strained his eyes but he could see a black limousine with its bunker against the wall in front of the hospital--and not at all at a good condition. Ms. Aeris! His eyes grew. But before he could call for help, he thought something wasn't right. He looked at who was above the wall.
A man with a sniper rifle pointed at him. He had brown hair and something around his forehead.
"Shit!!" Cloud threw his covers off as he rolled away from the bed, pulling his casted leg off its hold. He saw the bullet shoot through his quilt while he fell heavily to the cold floor. He gave another curse word as he slammed his bad knee against the floor. Cold liquid tickled his skin while he felt his right arm being frozen. The blue liquid had dripped through a needle that he knew was supposed to be injected to his wrist.
But that was not his concern for the moment. Aeris was in trouble.
Ignoring his pain, his eyes searched for something that glew and found it, soaking in the blue liquid. He grabbed it with his left hand and laid on his back, throwing it simultaneously to the intercom over his pillow. The reciever had been dislodged from the device and now hung lifelessly as a monotonous sound was heard faintly. He racked his mind for a number to dial while at the same time, looking for something else to throw as the materia had sat stationarily on his bed.
Damn it!! Cloud thought frustratedly, surrendering on looking for a specific reciever. Heavily, he turned around and crawled towards his night desk. His right arm trembled as he put weight on it while his eyes stayed on the flower basket. Wait for help, Ms. Aeris...! Finally close to it, he supported his weight with his numb right arm while his left hand reached for something.
Got it!!
He positioned the alarm clock to a throw-ready one and let it fly towards the intercom. Let God decided which number it presses.
bbrrrriiiiingggg!
"Anything wrong, sir?"
"Ms. Aeris is in trouble!! Get her out of the car now!!!"
The repetitive 'now!' had compelled the red-haired turk to pull of his legs from the controls and slam his feet to the floor, standing. His similarly colored eyes searched the monitors in the security room for anything wrong but panic had proven him wrong.
No, there was a repeating still image...
"Shit, hacked!" He grabbed his weapon and stormed out of the room, leaving the door to swing lifelessly.
It didn't take him long to get close to the front door, he casted the rod he held at the lock. Electricity shot through one end of his weapon and struck through it. The metal had also blackened and smoked due to the heat. The turk had pushed the front door open and took no time to pause and look for Aeris. His eyes had immediately spotted the vehicle where the driver was found shot. The mirror was broken and his head was drooped, what looked like blood flowed through the wound.
Another sound of a sniper rifle's bullet came. The turk gave a short cry as he felt it sharply hit his left arm. He stepped back, dropping his shoulders and holding his wound with his rod-wielding hand. "Fcking bastard!" His bloody hand moved to take a grenade from inside his jacket pocket. After biting the pin off, he threw it over to the roof. He knew it wouldn't reach the sniper himself but it would at least distract him or damage him in another way with the explosion.
He didn't need to fight now.
While the grenade had taken effect, he sped towards the broken limousine--slowing down when he had reached the passenger's side. He pressed the front end of his night rod against the lock. Electricity shot and damaged the lock, allowing him to simply open the door. The smoke from the explosion scattered throughout the air, making things look foggy. The smell was intoxicating, as well. But he had a job to finish.
The Shinra daughter was found lying on the car mats, back facing the roof. She was still, but a closer observation could show that her shoulders moved according to her sobs.
She's not doing a good job playing dead! He groaned and bent half his body into the limousine, supporting his weight with his legs and his good arm. "Ms. Aeris, you all right?"
Aeris looked up with blurry eyes. A surge of relief came to her after she saw through her tears who her saviour was. "R, Reno!!"
"Let's get you out of here, Ma'am." Reno Gainsborough had assisted the woman up and out, then rushed her towards the hospital. He had not realized that there were no guards standing.
The clock read 10:45 pm. It ticked mockingly at Cloud who waited for news in his new room. His bad leg was put up once more, but in a different level. He was running a high fever after his supplement of liquified mako had been suddenly interrupted. His face was beaded with sweat, chest rising and falling, skin pale and eyes dry.
Even after things had calmed down, Cloud had not felt it. He had completely ignored the nurse who constantly recorded statistics onto her clipboard.
A soft knock came and the door creeked open, surprising the nurse of the visitor's rudeness. While she motioned to tell him off, she held her tongue and meekly returned to her work after she saw who it was.
Reno, with his arm bandaged at the upper part of it, stepped into the room with a carefree smirk. But when he saw Cloud, shock had replaced it. Had he been his friend, he would have cursed loudly. But he was able to maintain his poise. "Sir," He nodded.
"Ms. Aeris?" Cloud felt relief after asking the question. It was hard making sure it was audible and feeling it drum against his ears and chest. He had slightly lifted his nape to better see the turk.
"She's safe." Reno knew death awaited him if he insisted on humoring this man.
"Thank God...!" Cloud's head returned to the softness of his pillow. He felt his heart pounding against his chest, head throbbing and warmth returning to his body.
Reno smirked. "Seriously, though, if you hadn't called, she would have probably died." He was amused at Cloud's surprised stare, as if he had spoken something ominous. "Our security system was hacked and the soldiers were downed with tranquilizer darts."
Cloud nodded. "I see...where is she?" His voice was softer.
"On her way home with Boss."
Cloud knew it was Tseng whom this turk referred to. He could finally rest for the night, he thought. "You saved her?"
"No one else but me!" Reno opened his arms, displaying pride. The wound did not ache much after the potion he had taken. He saw the clock in front of Cloud and whistled. "Well, I'll be going back to work now." He waved with his good hand. "Rest easy, sir."
"Thank you for everything." Cloud watched the turk step off his room and close the door.
The nurse then proceeded to closing the blinds. "Have some sleep, sir."
Cloud nodded and closed his eyes, falling nocturnal swiftly.
Carefully, she opened her eyes into a squint. Aeris saw firstly the image of her father who wore a warm smile. "Daddy..." She gave the gesture back, only it was rather weak.
"Aeris, I'm so happy you're awake..." Alex reached to caress his daughter's cheek. "How do you feel?"
"I think I'm sick." Aeris admitted with a croaky voice. She cleared her throat. "I feel a slight headache, my body feels heavy, too..."
"You've come down to a fever." Alex brushed his daughter's hair off her face. "I'll tell everyone not to disturb you."
"Daddy, wait," Aeris hurriedly called as her father moved to turn. She swallowed hard before she spoke. "Reno...I want to speak to him."
The year-worn envelope of gil was tossed onto the care-forbidden desk that was held up with the help of random planks and rusting nails. The young man with a green bandana reached for it and opened it slightly. There were three bills with the face of a previous Shinra president.
"Good job." The dark-colored man returned to wiping the massive gun attached to his muscular arm with a white cloth. "'at should give'm a scare, The next mission'll be th'real thing, hear?"
The real assassination. He kept the envelope inside his vest and turned to leave. "We'll be hanging out somewhere, Boss." He waved and left the ran-down office after he was acknowledged.
Outside, he pulled the door close before approaching his two other comrades. "So, where to?"
"Amazing he didn't get mad." The red-haired woman hopped off a fairly small barrel and recieved a kiss from the man to whose shoulders she placed her arms on. "How'd it go, Biggs?"
"We got 3000G, Baby." Biggs kissed the girl once more, his hands holding her slender waist.
"Mmm, su-weet..." Jesse broke from his lips to smile. "So, where we eatin'?"
"To the usual place, I guess." Biggs shrugged and turned to the chubby man on the floor. "Unless Wedge found something new to try."
"I found one but they're still setting the place up." Wedge shrugged. "It looks like it's going to have good food, though."
Jesse laughed. "EVERYTHING is good food for ya!" She heard Biggs laughing along.
Wedge twitched his smile. "Well, you have to learn how to appreciate every kind of food, nowadays."
"Yeah, true. Times are tough." Biggs started walking to the entrance of their little HQ, arm on Jesse's shoulders. "Let's have some fun."
"This came from a woman named Tifa Lockhart."
Aeris watched the red-haired turk settle a small vase of flowers onto her night desk. Her calm smile returned to her face. Now that her saviour was with her, she felt safer. "Thank you, Reno."
"And...there's also this letter." Reno reached from his pocket and handed an envelope to Aeris.
Aeris nodded, keeping the letter away. That will be read later.
"If you don't mind me asking, how do you feel?" Reno stood with his shoulders back and arms in pockets.
"I'm doing better, thank you." Aeris indicated the chair beside her where her father once sat and was declined politely. She nodded, as if understanding. "Um, Reno, I wasn't able to thank you properly last night..."
"Oh! Well..." Reno shrugged, visibly flattered that this woman was thanking him. "Just part'a the job, Ma'am."
Aeris giggled. "I do want to know, though, how was no one able to save me but you?" Her eyebrows were arched in curiosity.
"We're supposing that it's a terrorist attack." Reno started. "While you were gone, a band of rebels have presented activities against Shinra. They call themselves 'Avalanche'."
"Really...?" Aeris felt her hands squeezing her quilt. "How worse has the situation gone?"
"In terms of public safety, everything's under control. But in terms of spotting them, no improvements." Reno shook his head with a negative face.
Aeris nodded. "This war has incapacitated us at many points. Let's hope our victory will be a good omen." She asked a follow-up question. "How was our security penetrated?"
"The cameras were hacked and the soldiers were downed with tranquilizer darts. Pretty good for a buncha rookies, I'd say." Reno admitted.
"The cameras were hacked?" Aeris repeated in confusion. "Then...how were you able to find me? W, were you, by any chance, taking a walk?"
"Someone called me while I was keeping an eye on the monitors." Reno tapped his foot and snapped his fingers. "Forgot his name, though. Damn..."
"His?" Aeris arched her eyebrows in suspicion.
"Yeah. Musta heard the car crash from his room. Funny you're both sick--ah!" Reno snapped his fingers and pointed at Aeris before setting it down. "The commander of the 4th division."
Aeris blinked, surprise visible on her face. She felt her heart beating faster. She didn't expect that it could be him! "cmdr. Cloud Strife...?" Speaking the name had made her stomach flip-flop.
"Spikey blond? Blue mako eyes? His division was the one attacked a few days ago, right?" Reno clarified. But he ended up blinking and bending with arched eyebrows as the woman looked at her quilt, giving a shy smile. "Ehh...Ms. Aeris? Ms. Aeris..."
None of his calls got through her. She was overwhelmed that this commander had saved her.
And she was pleased...
- End of Part 5 -